


conspiracy theory streams

by Angelic_Cryptid



Category: Half-Life
Genre: Anxiety, Conspiracy Theories, How Do I Tag, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Idiots in Love, M/M, Panic Attacks, Slow Burn, Twitch Streamer - Freeform, adding tags as I go, barney likes really bad conspiracy theories, freehound - Freeform, gordon and alyx are friends, gordon has anxiety, kleiner's a college professor, later on tho, maybe idk, the events of black mesa havent happened, twitch streamer au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:14:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26288578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angelic_Cryptid/pseuds/Angelic_Cryptid
Summary: gordon freeman's a collage student at MIT whos a part time twitch streamer when he has the time. barneys a student at a local community college who streams for fun. bad theories and angry ranting somehow manage to bring them together.
Relationships: Barney Calhoun & Gordon Freeman, Barney Calhoun/Gordon Freeman, freehound
Comments: 5
Kudos: 42





	conspiracy theory streams

**Author's Note:**

> ill be honest i don't know what the fuck im doing i haven't written a fic in months and im dyslexic as hell-  
> so uhhhh here's this! idk if you guys like this ill prob write more bc i have a lot on the parin for this. i made this au at like 9pm and its been living in my brain ever since. i think i managed somehow every time i wrote theory i spelled it a different way.

Gordon and Barney had been living with each other for about three months now, but they have been streaming together longer. It all started about a year ago when Gordon began ranting during a live stream, chat had distracted him and managed to get him talking about aliens and the conspiracy theories that he found extremely infuriating. his chat decided it would be fun to link another streamer's account who only focused on theories exactly like that since he was also live at the time. Gordon decided to check out what the deal was and watched a few minutes of this guy's stream. He could only get about three minutes before he started ranting again and arguing with the man who he later found out was named barney. The night after that, they had gotten into contact with each other on twitter. they both agreed to stream together after chatting for a few hours, they thought their audience might get a kick out of it. The next night, they tossed around a few theories over chat but barney suggested they do a discord call since it would be easier to talk. 

Gordon thought this would be fun and yet he was filled with anxiety as the discord profile picture popped up, showing he was being called. As he caught his breath, he gathered every ounce of self confidence and answered; he was immediately met with Barney on the other line. He was merely sitting in his computer chair with legs over the arm rest, spinning slightly, he was wearing a loose “I believe” t-shirt with bigfoot on it.

“Hey doc”  
Barney let out a warm smile, it made Gordon's stomach twist. despite even knowing the guy barneys smile seemed so bright. 

“uh hey! it's nic- wait… doc?”  
Gordon tilted his head to the side slightly giving barney a confused look

“Oh, uh well, I watched a few of your past streams to see what you were like and you said you were studying science or something in that field. So, I uh, just kinda assumed you were a doctor or something” Barney chuckled nervously, not expecting him to point out the nickname. 

gordon hadn’t expected him to check out his streams, the thought made his stomach flip. he tried to give him a reassuring smile, but he wasn't sure how it appeared from his shitty laptop camera

“oh alright, it just caught me off guard that's all… it's nice to uh actually get to talk to you though.” gordon fidgeted with his hands hoping his anxiety would ease. 

“It's nice to talk to you too, you sure made one hell of an introduction last night on stream doc. definitely took me off guard but i think you improved the stream a lot ” barney joked trying to ease the tension 

Gordon laughed but the awkwardness of his responses didn’t help ease his nerves. He thought it would be easy, just to have one conversation with the guy, but it seemed like his anxiety was radiating off him. He began to fidget as the pit in his stomach deepind, 

*Fuck, am I going to have a panic attack during a video call with a dude I just met?  
What if he didn't like me to begin with? I'm probably making him uncomfortable… fuck when was the last time i said something? Shit I can't even remember what he said.*

Gordons anxiety fueled thoughts clouded his mind as he struggled to remember what Barney had said.

“Uh doc, if you want, we could just message if callin make you uncomfortable,” Barney added, slightly fidgeting with his shirt. huh guess gordon isn’t the only one who’s nervous. 

“No! It's ok I'm fine, sorry I just got distracted. uh, last night right, yeah. Sorry about that I can get pretty heated when it comes to things like this.”

Gordon responded, almost cutting off barney. He didn’t understand why he was so nervous to be on camera, it was always fine with him on live streams. Maybe it’s because he always streams alone? Maybe it's the fact he was getting to actually talk to barney face to face. Sure, he saw him streaming last night but it's different than talking to him in chat. It's more personal on an actual call. Maybe it's because he found Barney attractive? Or maybe the fact that he had taken two tests today and was extremely sleep deprived.

Barney seems to calm down a bit at gordons reassurance, slightly leaning back in his chair, adjusting his sitting position.

“I gotta say doc, you did make some good points in your argument but… I mostly just wanted to piss you off for the fun of it"

Barney smiled along with a faint laugh. Gordon's stomach flips every time he would laugh, man he would do anything to hear it again. Has he always been this gay? Seeing Barney being so laid back and calm made his heart calm slightly. He took a deep breath trying to ground himself.

“Well you definitely succeeded! But for the love of god Barney, please tell me you don't ACTUALLY think the earth is flat,”

Barney couldn't help but smile hearing Gordon say his name,  
“Well doc I gotta say they do make a good point.” barney could barely finish his bit before he cracked up laughing “LIsten doc If ever say i believe in that crap, be fully aware that i’ve probably been cloned and replaced” barney smiled wide seeing gordon over dramatically grab his heart and her out a sigh of relief. 

“Pfft!” Gordon covers his hands on his face as he was chuckling “oh thank god Barney, I was so scared”

They continued to talk for a few more hours, the conversation picking up as they grew more comfortable talking to each other, cracking jokes and discussing ideas for streams. He wasn't sure whether it was Barney's slight Texan accent, or his alluring personality, but Gordon loved hearing him talk. Whether it was rambling about a theory they could discuss, or poking fun at Gordon, he just couldn't get enough of it. He’d have to figure out these emotions later, for now he just wanted to enjoy laughing with Barney. When the conversation tarted to become dreary, from them being exhausted Barney pointed out that it was almost 3AM; Gordon didn't realize how fast time had gone by.

“Listen doc, I loved talking to you, but uh, I think were both about to pass out on our desks here” Barney slightly laughed as he yawned and stretched his arms “I'm gonna head to bed, we should call again soon… to uh, ya know, plan stream stuff”

Gordon smiled and nodded, whipping the sleep from his eyes.  
“Ha yeah, we should, I'll message you tomorrow about it when I'm free if that's alright”

“Sounds great doc! Talk to you tomorrow then” Barney said smiling sleepily 

They both said their goodbyes and hung up. Gordon moved from his desk, his knees cracked as he stood up and stretched his sore shoulders, groaning in discomfort. He stumbled over to his bed, planting his face into the pile of pillows. He took a deep breath as he groaned again sitting up to take his shirt and binder off. he stretched a bit more and immediately fell back into the pillows. He covered himself wearily with blankets, then he heard his phone buzz somewhere on the floor. He searched for it in the dark lazily grabbing at the floor trying to find it. eventually feeling it he grabbed it only to have the bright screen blind him; he picked up his glasses from the floor to see he had one new notification.

ConspiracyBarn: Night doc :)

Gordon hummed as he smiled, letting his phone drop back onto the floor. He should probably tell Alyx about Barney, he’ll deal with that tomorrow, because right now he just wanted to fall asleep. for once he was actually excited for the next day.

**Author's Note:**

> comments and critiques would be extremely helpful because again i don't know what i'm doing and i'm so tired and this fic is kinda cringe


End file.
